Sylvania



March 9 1926.

R. 5. SHARPNACK ET AL CAR Doon MEHANIsM Filed Sept. 23. 1924 P05/NON 7 P05/WON? Patented Mar. 9, 1926.

srATss PATENT OFFICE.

ROY S. SHARPNACK, OF DILLINER, AND JOSEPH l". BENZ, F FITTSBURGH, PENNn SYLVANIA.

CAR-DOOR MECHANISM.

Application tiled September 23, 1924. Serial No. 739,301.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, ROY S. SHARPNACK and Josnrrr P. BENZ, citizens of the United tates and residents of Dilliner and Pittsburgh, in the counties of Greene and Allegheny, respectively, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful 1mprovement in Car-Door Mechanism; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relatesfto car door mechanisms, and particularly to means for operating the doors of dump cars and the like.

One object of our invention is to provide means for automatically opening the doors of dump cars and the like when they reach unloading position, and for automatically rendering said means inoperative after completion of a dumping operation.

Another object of my invention is to simplify and improve generally the structure and op-eration of devices of the character referred to. Y

One form which our invention may take is shown in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 1s a portion of a coal tippleV to which our invention is applied; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the apparatus of Fig. 1; and Fig. 8 is a view thereof in end elevation.

lWhile our invention is shown as applied to mining cars, it will be apparent that it may be also employed with other types of cars and with movable containers other than wheeled vehicles.

Only so much of a coal tipple and dumping mechanism is shown as is necessary to explain our invention. The numeral 4. represents a portion 'of the frame work of a tipple within which is disposed the usual tracks 5 having jointed sections 6 and 7 which, when a car 8 moves to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, fiex as indicated in dotted lines, to tilt the car and per- V mit the coal to be dumped. After dumping,

the tracks and the car carried thereby, through the medium of the lever 9 counterweighted at 10, are returned to the positions indicated in full lines in Fig. 1, and the movable stops or horns 11 are swung outrof the way of the car wheels 'either automatically or manually, and the car thereby permitted to advance under the force of gravity and descend the inclined track section 7.

The parts thus far referred to may all be of any well known forni and do not constitute any portion of'our invention. Vhen a car is advanced to the position indicated in Fig. 1, ready for dumping, the end gate thereof is usually unlatched or opened manually. lt is the purpose of our invention to provide means for automatically eifecting an opening movement of the end gate or door and the means whereby this operation is effected will now be described.

A loop 12 of U-shape is pivotally supported at 413 from the frame work A and is provided with an eye 1A to which one end of a lineil is attached. The line 15 passes over a sheave 16 secured to the frame member f1 and around a sheave 17 to a bell crank 18 that is pivotally supported at 19.

Another eye member 2() is attached to the loop 12 and secured thereto is one end of a line 21, the other end of the line passing over a sheave 22 and having a. weight 23 secured thereto.

' A spring24 is provided for moving the lever 18 in a counter-clockwise direction, thereby permitting the weight 23 to move the loop 12 to position #2. lVhen the loop 12 is in the position marked #2, it will engage the hook 25 of an end gate or door 26 which is pivotally mounted at 27, as will clearly appear in Figs. 1 and 2. When the car is being dumped, the loop 12 will serve as a 'stop member and prevent movement of the gate downwardly with the car, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. After the car has been dumped and has been returned to upright position, the end gate 26 will assume its normal position with respect to the car body.

During the operation just referred to, a pivoted track section 29 occupies the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l; that is, the forward end thereof projects above the plane of the main rail sections. The next car, 8, to be dumped is advanced to the position indicated in Fig. 1. This car depresses the track section 29 toposition #1, moving the bell crank 18 in a clockwise direction and pulling the cord 15 to'move the loop 12 to position #1. In this position the lower end of the loop 12 is raised above the top of the car 8 so as to clear the hook 25 and permit the car to advance from unloading position without interference. The car 8a is then advanced to dumping position, moving off the track section 29 and permitting the spring 12 to move the bell crank lever 18 in a counter-clockwise direction to raise the track section 29 and to permit the Weight 23 to return the loop 12 to position :iE/:2 Where it will engage the hook on the car 8, to` repeat the door opening operation above described.

From the foregoing it will be seen that We provide a simple and effective means for automatically vopen-ingl car doors and forl auf tomatically rendering the door opening means inoperative when it is desired to advance the car from unloading position.

Various modifications in detail and general arrangement may be made Without departi-ng from the spirit and scope of the inventionv asv ydefined in the accompanying` claims:

.l/Te claim as our invention:

1. The combination with tracks over which dump cars are adapted to move, of door operating mechanism comprising a door lifting membery pivotally supported at a point above the path of travel of the cars, a pivoted rail section in said track, a springoperated bell crank for normally holding said rail section in raised position, aline connected to said bell crank and said lifting member at itsopposite ends and serving normally to hold said lifting member in inoperative position, and a counter Weight/tending to move the lifting member to operative position, the connections to the lifting member being so arranged that upon depression of the rail section by a canthe bell crank will be moved to raise the door to inoperative position, and When the Weight of the car is removed from the rail section, the counter- Weight will move the lifting member to operative position.

2. The combination with tracks over Which dump cars are adapted to move, of

door operating mechanism comprising a door lifting member pivotally supported rat a pointv above the path of travel of the cars, a pivoted rail section in said `tiaclna movable member for normally holding said rail sec# tion in raised position, a line connected to said movable member and said lifting member at its opposite ends and serving normally to hold said lifting member in inoperative position,'and a `counterweighttending to move the lifting member to operative position, the connections to the lifting` member being so arranged that upon depression of the rail section by a car the said movable' 

